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Empathy and emotional intelligence have been the key values in my teaching roles. It’s been 40 years but I remember very clearly how I felt as a teenager and, like lots of teenagers, we aren’t always lucky enough to have mentors who can shape, guide and support us through the challenging exam period. I am here now to be that mentor.
Some of my strategies
Retrieval Practice
Using mnemonic devices. When you have to think about what you have learned five times it is more likely to stay in your memory.
Elaboration
Encouraging students to draw pictures and use boxed activities to help find ways to make sense of the information and to find different ways to make it memorable.
Consolidation
Building working memory by continually revising skills and establishing routines.
Visual Clues
Examples and model answers. The best way to understand how to answer in an exam is to read exam answers. I provide commentary as to why the marks are awarded in a clear and comprehensive way.
Clear Directions
At the beginning and throughout, both visually and verbally.
Definite Learning Outcomes
For each session to ensure there is a weekly “payoff”, helping maintain motivation and a sense of achievement.
Having Fun!
There will be activities and challenges in every session to keep the energy and motivation moving along.
A Checklist
For students to keep track of the skills they have covered.
Tool and Techniques
To help students reach their own individual potential. They may have different starting points and different needs but these tools are appropriate for everyone, irrespective of ability levels.
What students and parents don't know about GCSE English
What you should know is that the GCSE English language exam must cover many different skills and it becomes quite artificial. Even with my First class degree in English, Master's Degree in Educational Management, thirty years of teaching experience and voracious reading habits, I would not have been able to achieve 100% on this exam when the sample papers first came out.
This goes some way to explaining why 30% of students every year fail to gain a grade 4.
I have studied mark schemes and assessment criteria extensively, breaking down each section of the papers to apply a formula to each question. Yes... like in science or maths! So many students believe you can't study for English language but that is far from the case. All my advice is based on what the examiner wants by digging deep into the mark scheme.
Too many students take comfort in writing ‘loads’ in an English exam but fail because they have not addressed the assessment criteria. It still surprises me that students will go into an exam and NOT know where the marks are coming from.
What we will cover over three terms
Overview of the exam papers
Paper 1 (50% of the GCSE) 80 marks
Explorations in creative reading and writing
One hour and 45 minutes.
- This paper focuses on fiction. There will be one insert from a fiction text from either the 20th or 21st century.
- Section A contains four comprehension questions worth 40 Marks and covers reading.
- Section B contains one question and covers creative writing. It is also worth 40 marks.
Paper 2 (50% of the GCSE) 80 marks
Writer’s viewpoints and perspectives.
One hour and 45 minutes.
- This paper focuses on nonfiction and will have an insert with two texts. One will be from the 19th century, and the other will be from the 20th or 21st centuries.
- Section A contains 4 comprehension questions and covers reading worth 40 marks.
- Section B contains one question and covers writing. It is also worth 40 marks. The writing question will ask you to persuade, argue or inform.
Some of the language skills covered
Analysis of writers’ choice of language and the effect. A vague, generic response is very common amongst students... “It makes the reader want to read on”. This will be awarded no marks. We learn to flesh out the detail and engage with the text.
Using a wide range of subject terminology accurately. Knowledge is power and we will learn to identify the simple ones and the more sophisticated ones: rhetoric, pathetic fallacy, semantic field and hyperbole amongst many others.
Using the PEEL structure effectively. This is the foundation for getting those good grades and is a transferable skill across the literature papers.
Build ambitious vocabulary. Let's be honest, our non-reading generation of children have not honed extensive and ambitious vocabulary. I have a system for artificially inflating vocabulary by introducing fifteen or so multi-tasking words to incorporate into any piece. No one wants to lose a whole 8 marks out of 40, especially when a grade boundary is around 5 to 8 marks.
Using inventive structural features. By this I mean planning the shape of a piece. This is probably the best 5 minutes any student will spend in an exam but the one most resisted. It is worth a whopping 12 marks. I have strategies and prepared formulas to really maximise marks on the longer writing tasks.
Creating and applying varied language devices. Gone are the days when examiners are impressed by similes such as “the snow lay on the ground like a blanket”. We will learn to compile a toolkit of sophisticated language devices which will come to the rescue should creativity begin to falter in the exam.
Using a wide range of sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect. Expectations have certainly risen, it is no longer about whether you have put your full stops in the right place. Now students should impress with colons: short sentences, complex sentences, semi-colons; caesura - ellipses…
Using inference. This is a must have skill. In the 2022 examiner's report it was highlighted that students lacked this important skill and it cost vital marks.
About Me
Hi I'm Janine! As a highly qualified English teacher with over 30 years of experience I have inspired thousands of students to not only achieve success but to exceed expectations.
believe every student should have the opportunity and the resources to do their best. A teen is working hard to adapt and develop mentally, physically and socially at a time when the pressures of important exams are placed heavily on their young shoulders.
I have tutored hundreds of students from all the schools in Harpenden over the past fifteen years. I have developed a customised, strategic approach to empower GCSE students with the skills, strategies and self-confidence to harness key skills and, ultimately, maximise potential.
Announcement
Exciting new online course. Schedule a one to one call with me to find out more information!